Many people think smoking marijuana is as harmful as smoking tobacco. wrong!

Most weed smokers smoke the bud of
the plant. The bud contains only 33% as much tar as tobacco.

weed smokers do not smoke anywhere near as much as tobacco smokers, due to the psychoactive effects of cannabis.

Cannabis, unlike tobacco, does not cause any narrowing of the small air passageways in the lungs. marijuana has been shown to be an expectorant and actually dilates the air channels it comes in contact with.

due to marijuana's ability to clear the lungs of smog, pollutants, and cigarette smoke, it may actually reduce your risk of lung cancer. weed is also different from tobacco in that it does not contain nicotine and is not addictive.

the tar the plant contributes to your body is miniscule, add to that the fact that you dont smoke a pack of joints a day, at most only 1 because you dont need anymore to get high, and human beings living for a natural lifespan will be virtually unaffected. if you live for, say, 200 years, the tar may eventually become a problem if you smoke everyday. if a person can live a normal life and smoke weed, that should be legal. if they do something against the law while high, they should be taken to court for that crime, not for smoking weed. im confused as to what you mean by most of these studies arent strong enough. its medical evidence across the board. ill believe a medical board before i believe some hack on abovetheinfluence . com

I'm not sure about this, but I don't recall any long term studies on marijuana use. Therefore, there are no studies that could link it to lung cancer. (Aka: Link Me)

If marijuana were legalized, the strength of the product would probably go down quite a bit. Less strength = More to get the same effect = Increased amount of tar by marijuana smoke.

A DUI is a good counter example to that last one. If the substance provoked the crime, they should be charged with inappropriate behavior while high along with the crime.

I'm saying we need to have a trial before it is legalized everywhere, not that it shouldn't be legalized. Also, we need to build the infrastructure (companies, retailers, blah blah blah). Ran out of space...

the claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on research done during the second Reefer Madness Movement. A study attempted to show that marijuana smoking damaged brain structures in monkeys. However, the study was poorly performed and it was severely criticized by a medical review board. Studies done afterwards failed to show any brain damage, in fact a very recent study on Rhesus monkeys used technology so sensitive that scientists could actually see the effect of learning on brain cells, and it found no damage.

Only idiots think that pot is really bad for you, most people are not that dumb. The REAL reason there's a problem with smoking it is because it helps fund street crime, which is a problem that would be solved by legalizing it. So long story short, pot is illegal because pot is illegal.

if you use a bong instead of actually smoking the plant, then yes, because the tar does not get into your system, which is the only real downside of weed. you can ingest weed as well (brownies, etc.) which will produce the same effect without tar.

yeah, youll be hard-pressed to find actual scientific evidence that marijuana, disregarding the effects of tar, is bad for you. a few biased studies were leaked by the government that said it was bad for you years back, but they have been proven false twenty times over. as many have already said, the only reason its illegal is because hemp was so much cheaper than paper that it was made illegal to grow, or have. the only reason its still illegal now is because the propaganda machine has been running for so long that people actually believe it, never challenge it, and never search for factual evidence of it. they see the commercials on tv and assume it must be true that weed is bad for you, and never think anything more of it.

As an anti-depressant, it actually makes you happy, not a zombie. For cancer patients, the munchies counters the effects of chemo so they eat and stay healthy, and also gets rid of the nausea, headaches, and just pain and and general sickness caused by the drugs. The main reason it was made illegal was because of lumber lobbyists who would get more money if it was made illegal because the hemp can be used for making rope and canvas and paper, and cannabis was actually an important cash crop in the colonies. Also, in countries where pot is legal, say Holland (Netherlands technically) pot is smoked less often by less people then in the states, and thats true with a lot of things

The founders of the U.S. grew Hemp (Marijuana). The Declaration of Independence is written on Hemp paper... -random facts-

They did studies on how weed itself, could get America out of its financial slump, and make us a prospering country...If the government legalized it, in all states, California alone would have over a $1,000,000,000 in tax revenue...crimes would fall greatly, because no one would be getting arrested for weed....but a bunch of butthurt *************** sitting in leather chairs in an old building said no...

like counties where alcohol isnt a big deal (really anywhere else in the world) they have a lower rate of alcoholics and alcohol poisoning when they can legally drink alcohol, as it is so important that when someone in the states turn 21, they binge drink which is extremely unhealthy

We have the same problem in the UK (Scotland in particular), the legal age is 18 and we have a huge rate of alcoholism. I can't remember if it was Scotland (where I live) or the Republic of Ireleand that came first, but we're the top two countries for alcohol consumption per capita in Europe. In contrast, France and Italy (where the drinking ages are 16 and 14 (I can't remember which is which)) there is a much lower rate of alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse...

Its better there though, I grew up in the UK, I've already had my own pint before and Im 14 because its perfectly legal there in private. In the US, we can't even have alcohol under 21 in our own homes or with meals

Evidence - my school where everyone does it and everyone is a complete ******* dumbass.

They do it way too much. They have lost so many brain cells that they're damn near retarded. It IS bad if you do it too often; I would never do it but I would support it for medical reasons like depression or a bad back.

the claim that marijuana kills brain cells is based on research done during the second Reefer Madness Movement. A study attempted to show that marijuana smoking damaged brain structures in monkeys. However, the study was poorly performed and it was severely criticized by a medical review board. Studies done afterwards failed to show any brain damage, in fact a very recent study on Rhesus monkeys used technology so sensitive that scientists could actually see the effect of learning on brain cells, and it found no damage.